Spanish
Treasure
For
everyone who has dreamed of discovering a treasure chest
of gold, silver and gemstones - perhaps the loot of
a swashbuckling pirate of the Caribbean - take heart
because this is the real thing.
Spanish
conquistadors and Missionaries flocked to the Americas
in search of wealth or in hopes of spreading the Gospel
in the New World. Most of the mineral wealth they could
gather was melted and turned into coins, which were
struck, loaded onto ships, and sent across the Atlantic
Ocean to the King of Spain.
Because
of the haste from mine to mint, to shipping, and the
crudity of the technology of the times, the
detail of the coings is rarely clear. These historic
coins, are known to Collectors as "cobs", and abbreviation
of the Spanish term for "Cabo De Berra," meaning
cut from the end of the bar. Although the full details
is rarely clear because of the ragged shape, the front
features a cross, that ranges From a plain cross to
one with bars on the end, known as a "Jerusalem Cross."
The
reverse depicts the crest of either the Hapsburgs or
the Bourbons, powerful European families who ruled in
Spain.
